Marlowe Philip "Lefty" Godbout was the only son of Swiss immigrant Maria Manzinoja and French Canadian immigrant Arthur Joseph Godbout. His father died in the 1918 flu epidemic and his grandmother  Anna Staeheli Manzinoja Nett died the following year.

For a time he and his mother Maria lived with her stepfather George Staeheli, as her father Peter Manzinoja died in Switzerland before they immigrated. Maria had 4 brothers and three half siblings - Valentine, George Jr. and Margaret whom Lefty was raised with and very close to. Valentine and George both were heavily involved in Saint Paul, Minnesota sports - especially baseball which they mentored him and helped him to become a very good pitcher. He played in Saint Paul teams and played also for professional teams in the late 1920's and early 1930's. He played in Oelwein, Iowa in the summers of 1928 and 1929 for the Chicago Great Western team. While in Oelwein he met his first wife Helen. They very married in 1934, they had one daughter who died at birth. They divorced in the early 1940's.

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He worked as a Sales Manager  for 7-UP in St. Paul where he met his second wife - Frances Fox. They were married on 30 Sept 1944 in Saint Paul. The family then moved to Butte, Montana when he became the Regional Manager for 7-UP (MN, MT, WA, WY, ID), followed by Manager of Seven-Up Bottling Company. In 1957 he sold off his 7-UP distributorship and bought Coca-Cola distributorship and became the Butte Bottling Company. The business is still family owned, now under the name of Mile High Beverages.

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He shared his love of baseball with his children - telling them many stories about his travels and time on the road playing professionally. It was on one of his baseball roadtrips that he had first come to Butte, Montana and gave him the idea to eventually settle and raise his family there, according to his son. He was involved in sports throughout his life including coaching and also bowling leagues in Butte.

He divorced again in the 1960's and he married Edith Hislop in December of 1969. Lefty Godbout died in 1973.

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with thanks to Godbout researcher Helen Lallo.